Guenon was a french Catholic who developed a philosophy of traditionalism (one tradition cannot contain the universal as this itself is beyond words but many traditions can express the universal). He thought Catholicism's traditionalism had become exhausted and moved to Egypt and became a Sufi, seeing as how Islam still preserved it's traditionalist nature. It's more complicated than that but there you go.

Well, he brought many people to Islam, so that's a good thing; but he was also a Mason and syncretised Islam with Hindu ritual beliefs. Interesting fellow, but he is not someone to be admired or aspired to be like.

He was against syncretism, and according to everyone who knew him in Cairo he was completely orthodox in his practice of Islam. He did believe that Advaita Vedanta and Islam (especially Sufi teachings) were identical in their metaphysical teachings.

You know there's a reason dictionaries exist, right? It's so people can't run around making up their own definitions for words. What do YOU think "esoteric" means?

>matters you don't understand

Oh, I understand Guenon. I've known 1,000 people just like him, floating through life from religion to religion in a desperate search for a deeper meaning. Self-proclaimed philosophers who don't take the time to study a single thing, but rather try to find a way to obtain salvation by cherry picking the things they like from every religion and cobbling it together. They're entertaining, but lose the forest because they're trying to pluck bark from each tree.

Qur'an itself says there's nothing hidden about Islam. No deeper meaning, no difficult concepts and it is accessible to all men.

Do not mix truth with falsehood and do not deliberately hide the truth [2:42]

Allah does not want to place you in difficulty [5:6]

We intend for you ease. [2:185]

You have been sent to make things easy and not to make them difficult. [Bukhari]

Trying to introduce some mystical/esoteric concepts into an already perfect religion, God's perfect religion, could be construed as blasphemy. Tread carefully.

No, what matters is the actual definition of the word being used. "Esoteric" has a specific meaning in the English language. You don't get to change a word's definition just to suit your narrative. That's not how communication works. If Guenon has changed the definition of a word just to suit his narrative, then he's a bigger idiot that I thought.

Guess some people here really take it personally when their own philosophical views are questioned…

Islam is Islam. Trying to find philosophical definitions that apply in general sense and then applying it to Islam is nothing sort of stupidity. You cannot call Islam capitalistic just because it has some aspects that would be close to some parts of capitalism. You cannot say Islam has communist values in it just because some of it's values seem like some that is found in the communist system. Likewise, trying to generalise and then comparing philosophical aspects of other religions or ideologies along with Islam, indirectly implies that the person believes that Islam is just like those other religions or idelogies.

When trying to make someone understand some aspects of Islam, it might be necessary. But directly claiming that that aspect is one of the main parts of Islam is misleading. It's not something related to Islam but rather it is something, some parts of which, can be used to refer to some part that is a part of Islam.

Before you start regurgitating philosophical views keep in mind that entertaining a theory or idea is not the same as accepting it completely. And insulting other people for not taking part in specific philosophical veiws that might lead to deviation(in excess) is idiocy.

What are you exactly? Is there some sort of Geunonian religion like buddhism? Because I'm seeing a couple of pretty similar smug comments in this thread but they are from different posters with only 1/2 post each.

Anyways, we believe that all prophets were sent the same message of tawhid. So the concept of "no universal truth in one religion" doesn't apply to Islam. We worship God alone. The same one and only God of Adam(AS), of Ibrahim(AS), of Nuh(AS), of Musa(AS) of Isa(AS) and of Prophet Mohammad(SAWS).

" He it is Who has sent down to you the Book,

containing verses which are clear and precise —

and these are the essence of the Book — and

others are allegorical. Those whose hearts have

swerved from the truth pursue that part of it

which is allegorical, seeking to create dissension

and trying to give it an arbitrary meaning. None

save God knows its final meaning. Those who

are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We

believe in it; it is all from our Lord.” But only

those who are endowed with insight take heed. " (3:7)

You can take your pseudo-intellectual babbling and superiority complex back to leddit.

Instead of making a new thread: what do you guys think of Schuon? I read Sedgewick's book and if even half the things he says there are true that would put Schuon way outside the pale of Islam, yet people like Martin Lings, who tend to be highly regarded in the ummah, held Schuon in high esteem. Is Mark Sedgewick a reliable source? I've head he's actually a practicing Muslim? Is that true? Has anyone read Schuon's "Understanding Islam" and what did you think of it?

I have an epub of it, and I've glanced at it here and there, haven't read it thoroughly yet, but it seems to be mostly fine, in fact, the commentary seems really good compared to other English language Quran interpretations. The Perennialist stuff is probably scattered throughout, and as long as you're aware of it, should be fine. My main complaint is the absence of Arabic for a Quran purporting to be a "Study Quran".

Esotericism ('ilm al-batin) has always been a recognized and accepted aspect of Sunni Islam. There are numerous hadith referring to the "inward" (batin) and "outward" (dhahir) aspects of Qur'anic verses. Read the Tafsir of Sahl al-Tustari.